*'''''[http://aries.jmrl.org/search/t?SEARCH=pleasure+of+finding+things+out The Pleasure of Finding Things Out]''''': by Richard Feynman

*'''''[http://aries.jmrl.org/search/t?SEARCH=pleasure+of+finding+things+out The Pleasure of Finding Things Out]''''': by Richard Feynman

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:JMRL has this in audiobook form, which might not be the best for some of the intense physics discussed in some of the chapters. But the other essays talk about Feynman's work in an accessible way. He talks about how his father helped cultivate a wonder with the world that allowed Feynman to ask questions scientifically. There is a discussion about Feynman's views on faith vs. science, and some great personal anecdotes - told in Feynman's own idiosyncratic verbiage if not in his own voice - about being the young gun on the Manhattan Project, winning the Nobel Prize, etc.

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:JMRL has this in audiobook form, which might not be the best for some of the intense physics discussed in some of the chapters. But the other essays talk about Feynman's work in an accessible way. In some sections, he talks about how his father helped cultivate a wonder with the world that allowed Feynman to ask questions scientifically. In others, there are discussions about Feynman's views on faith vs. science, his views for the future of science, and some great personal anecdotes - told in Feynman's own idiosyncratic verbiage if not in his own voice - about being the young gun on the Manhattan Project, winning the Nobel Prize, etc.

*'''''[http://aries.jmrl.org/search/t?SEARCH=dry+storeroom+no Dry Storeroom No. 1: the Secret Life of the Natural History Museum]''''': by Richard Fortey

*'''''[http://aries.jmrl.org/search/t?SEARCH=dry+storeroom+no Dry Storeroom No. 1: the Secret Life of the Natural History Museum]''''': by Richard Fortey

Revision as of 15:55, 8 August 2009

JMRL has this in audiobook form, which might not be the best for some of the intense physics discussed in some of the chapters. But the other essays talk about Feynman's work in an accessible way. In some sections, he talks about how his father helped cultivate a wonder with the world that allowed Feynman to ask questions scientifically. In others, there are discussions about Feynman's views on faith vs. science, his views for the future of science, and some great personal anecdotes - told in Feynman's own idiosyncratic verbiage if not in his own voice - about being the young gun on the Manhattan Project, winning the Nobel Prize, etc.

Entertaining for its anecdotes of eccentric scientists, odd creatures, and adventurous expeditions, the book also provides a solid picture of the importance of taxonomy in science, and how it is changing with new techniques. This is a grown-up version of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil Frankenweiler.

What it would be like living in an unusual space often serves authors well. Arthur Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama imagines existence in a huge cylinder where "up" is toward the center, and two of the cardinal directions run straight while two run in a curve. Ian Stewart builds on Edwin Abbot's classic Flatland, which, by analogy with a two-dimensional world, imagined what life might be like in more than three dimensions. Abbott also had social issues in mind. Stewart's book presents a series of worlds in much weirder, non-Euclidean geometries, and in which women's social status has been completely transformed. The book combines real geometric understanding, humor, and progressive social commentary.